Power outage: A nightmare for struggling Alberton North’s businesses, locals
In an already-struggling economy, an area power outage burdened businesses and residents trying to keep their heads above water and deprived them of a basic service – electricity.
A three-day power outage, in an economy plagued by load-shedding, added to locals’ frustrations and equally affected large parts of Alberton North’s industrial and residential areas.
Again, residents and businesses suffered a sudden blackout, reportedly due to a cable fault, with the current deteriorated infrastructure not making things any easier.
Many businesses in the area lost days of manufacturing and production, while residents lost food and appliances. After three days of being in the dark, businesses are trying to catch up.
According to business owner Jan Otte of Modular Patterns, they lost about R50 000 because of the power outage.
“The power outage was a huge shock because it came a week before the end of the month. We couldn’t get our machines going and spent a lot of money on generators,” he explained.
Blackouts increase pressure
Allison Smit, the owner of RAFS Funeral Services, said they might have to close if their business remains without electricity.
Smit said that in her 10 years of operating in Alberton North, she had seen the power issue worsen and affect the running of the mortuary.
In an interview with the Alberton Record, she said she had four bodies that really needed to be kept in a cold environment. Smit said she had recently picked up a body that had already partially decomposed.
“There is just no care or compassion from the city. If they do the work, it’s as if they are doing us a favour. If you’re late in paying rates and taxes, they disconnect you immediately, but when you ask for service, you must wait for days to get a response. And the call centre is worse,” she explained.
She said she spent more money on running generators than using prepaid electricity.
“Regardless of whether the person no longer breathes, that is still a person, even though there is no life in them. I don’t think any family would appreciate it if I came to a funeral and the body smelt foul or I gave them a swollen corpse.
“This puts so much pressure on me because I need to take extra measures to make sure that how I collected the remains from them is how I’m giving it back to them,” Smit said.
“Being without power puts us under strain,” she said.
Having no power is also a health risk for the business.
Power woes
Ward 37 Clr Ivan Naidoo said, “The incident, on May 21 at 22:35, was reported to the department at 22:45. I immediately asked the department if there was a standby team on duty but got no response. The power was restored in the late afternoon of May 24.”
On the same day, he said he received a commitment that power would be restored that day.
“Residents understand when there are power outages. However, the department must understand that businesses face major financial losses during these outages. “Businesses face such losses that some are on the verge of closing down, adding to the 41.9% employment rate in the city,” Naidoo said.
He called on the energy department to strategise on overcoming these unforeseen power outages.
After escalating this issue to the CoE, the city’s spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said in a telephone call that he would escalate this issue to the HoD for more information.
He confirmed what Naidoo had said and added that the CoE could not predict when cables would be faulty.
“We need to improve our turnaround times and improve on it,” he said.
